Iran Doctor Treats 400 Eye Injuries From Gunshots

A single eye specialist in Tehran has recorded more than 400 gunshot-related eye injuries at a hospital, underscoring the scale of injuries as medical workers are pushed beyond capacity by an intensifying and violent crackdown on protests across Iran.

According to messages sent by three doctors and shared with the Guardian, hospitals and emergency rooms are overflowing with protesters suffering from gunshot wounds. The doctors said injuries were overwhelmingly focused on the eyes and heads, mirroring a pattern rights groups say was deliberately used by authorities during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.

“[Security forces] are deliberately shooting at the head and the eyes. They want to damage the head and the eyes so they can no longer see, the same thing they did in [2022],” said a doctor in Tehran. He added that many patients had their eyes surgically removed and were left blind.

The current wave of unrest began on 28 December following a sharp drop in Iran’s currency value and has since grown into the country’s largest anti-government protest movement since 2009. Tens of thousands of people have filled the streets nightly in cities nationwide, chanting slogans such as “death to the dictator,” aimed at supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Authorities have responded with alarm. On Thursday night, they cut off internet and mobile service nationwide, severing Iranians’ contact with the outside world. Rights organizations say the blackout has been used to conceal a violent suppression of demonstrators.

Between 12,000 and 20,000 people have been killed since the protests began, while over 16,700 people have been arrested, according to CBS and other reports.

Even by Iran’s recent history, the scale of killing is staggering. Just two weeks in, the death toll is already four times higher than that of the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests, which had previously been considered an unusually brutal crackdown.

Doctors inside Iran say the official numbers barely scratch the surface. They reported a dramatic surge in wounded protesters arriving at hospitals immediately after authorities shut down the internet on Thursday.

“It’s like in the war movies where you see the injured soldiers getting treated on the open field. We don’t have blood, we don’t have enough medical supplies. It’s like a war zone,” the Tehran doctor said. A colleague said staff were forced to treat the wounded outdoors in freezing weather because hospital wards were full.

Medical workers are also operating in isolation, the Tehran doctor said, as the communications blackout has made it impossible to coordinate with other hospitals or emergency responders. He added that security forces periodically enter hospitals to arrest injured protesters.

“My colleagues are very distressed, tired and horrified. They are breaking down in tears,” the doctor said. He added that one fellow physician was shot and wounded while trying to reach the hospital.

The nature of the injuries has reinforced doctors’ belief that protesters’ eyes are being intentionally targeted, a conclusion echoed by rights groups. Medical staff reported seeing wounds consistent with shotguns firing metal pellets, as well as injuries from live rifle ammunition.

“Eyes were hit by birdshot pellets and it was deliberate, they are shooting to kill,” said the Tehran doctor. Another physician said they removed “20 pellets” from a single protester’s body.

“The evidence demonstrates that even when utilising ‘less-lethal’ weapons, the Islamic Republic deliberately targets vital organs, transforming these tools into instruments of systematic mutilation and permanent disability to terrorise protesters,” the spokesperson said.

Iranian officials have denied responsibility for the violence, instead blaming protesters. Authorities have released videos they claim show foreign saboteurs and have pointed to footage of protesters beating police officers, the killing of a police chief by Sunni militants, and mosques being vandalized as proof that demonstrations turned violent.

HRANA reports that at least 135 people connected to the Iranian government have been killed during the unrest.

Protesters who managed to bypass the communications blackout offered a starkly different account, saying security forces were the ones initiating deadly force. A 20-year-old protester described a demonstration in Tehran on Friday that turned lethal after security personnel intervened.

“We were just chanting Javid Shah [Long live the king] and plainclothes killers infiltrated the people a few lines ahead and shot point blank, from behind, with guns directly at their head. We ran away and we don’t even know if they picked up the dead bodies,” they said.

Footage sent to the Guardian by activists showed a protester lying motionless on the ground, blood pouring from his mouth, following especially severe crackdowns Thursday in Fardis, west of Tehran. “He’s not breathing! Please hold on, I swear to god, please hold on,” a voice can be heard screaming as blood continues to gush from the man’s mouth.

Despite the violence, demonstrations have continued into a 17th consecutive day, with thousands of people still filling streets each night.

Doctors warned that the international community is seeing only a fraction of the catastrophe unfolding inside Iran.

“The images and data broadcast by the international media do not represent even one per cent of the reality, because the information simply does not reach them,” a physician who fled Iran told the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran on Monday.

“This was a mass-casualty situation. Our facilities, space, and personnel were far below the number of injured people arriving,” the doctor said, describing conditions inside the hospital.